I still feel helpless. A doctor friend of mine mentioned that we will likely be seeing PTSD-like responses as a result of this experience. A 38-minute false alarm was still very real while it was happening.

I too thought of you because I don't know anyone from Hawaii either. My heart breaks for all of us. I hope you can find a way to let us know how your high school kids react to this. Jill, your writing is beautiful, and I have saved your 2 Feb 2017 Post: "...worrying, all the time, about our country -- our world, in fact -- and where we are headed. The antidote for hopelessness, I have found, is in our youth. Being a teacher is, for me, an experience in hope." We need to take care of each other.

Janet, I'm so touched by that! I, too, have been thinking about my students for days now, trying to find the words. I have an "Art of Argument' class that is likely going to approach this differently from my "Poetry Workshop" class. Either way, I need to help them to find outlets and to give voice to what they are dealing with. I spent so much of my childhood worried that the U.S. and Russia would engage in nuclear war at any time, and now a similar fear is gripping my daughter's generation. It's sad and sick, but this experience is going to teach them -- at least, those who were here to experience this -- to work even harder to be the hope that the world needs.

Hi Jill... I am so sorry you had to go through such a stressful event. No doubt people will suffer from PTSD in the coming days and months. You are the only person I know that lives in Hawaii, so you can be sure that you, your family and fur babies were in my thoughts. Sending big virtual hugs your way.

Thank you for sharing this. I mentioned this alert that happened to my son (he is 16) and he still had trouble understanding just how scary it would have been. I shared your words with him and it gave him a little bit more of an understanding. As scary and sad as your words were, thank you for sharing.

Charlene, I'm so touched that you did this. In speaking with my high school students today, there were mixed reactions. Everyone copes differently, but one thing is clear -- everyone who experienced this was changed in some way.

Where To Find Me

Follow by Email

Use Your Words

"Word-work is sublime...because it is generative; it makes meaning that secures our difference, our human difference -- the way in which we are like no other life.

We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives. "

Toni Morrison

A Humble Request

Please do not use the images or content on this site without crediting me as the source. If you would like to use any images on this blog for marketing or advertising purposes of any kind, please do not use them without my explicit consent. Thank you!